4-(2-methylphenyl)benzotrifluoride is a compound useful as an intermediate for medicines and agricultural chemicals, for example, CP-319340 and CP-467688 of the following formulae (EP944602-A, WO98/23593-A).

A production method by cross-coupling reaction aryl halides with corresponding aryl compounds has been reported, for example, by Tetrahedron Letters, 1997, vol. 38, no. 22, p. 3513–3516, JP2001-213816-A (patent family of US2001/0020110A1), JP2001-213817-A (patent family of US2001/0034459A1), and the like.
However, the methods have problems, such as use of expensive catalyst (e.g. Ni(dppf)Cl2, Ni(PPh3)Cl2, Pd(dppf)Cl2, Pd(PPh3)Cl2, and the like), use of expensive raw material or raw material which should be prepared through several steps, or the like. “dppf” and “PPh3” mean “1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene” and “triphenylphosphine”, respectively.